


An Unfulfilled Prophecy

by Nefaria_Black



Series: To Live in the Shadows [9]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Angst, Augurey, Azkaban, Canon Compliant, Dementors, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Jealousy, Lumos charm, Post-Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Prompt Fic, Sanity Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 02:59:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13965909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nefaria_Black/pseuds/Nefaria_Black
Summary: Rodolphus pays a visit to an incarcerated DelphiniOne shot, written for several prompts





	An Unfulfilled Prophecy

He always casts a _Lumos_ when he visits. She shies from the light at first, every time. This place is much too dark. So he dims it a little and lets her come closer, enjoying the sight of her enjoying the pale light. It’s not warm, it’s nowhere near to sunlight, but it’s enough to keep the memory of light alive in the girl’s mind.

He probably shouldn’t think of her like that, not anymore. He had last seen her when she was still a baby, and he had found a grown witch after his release, but she would always be a girl in his mind. It’s how he thought of her all along, when he himself was bound within these walls.

These doomed walls, made of misery themselves, after years and years of being coated with the screams of wizards and witches losing their minds, day by day, one rotten peck in the lips at a time.

That’s why he visits so often. He has a duty to Delphini. He promised to keep her safe that last day, and he failed miserably. He left her behind to try and reach out, one last time, for her Mother, and in that he failed them both. Failed them all. The Dark Lord died. Bellatrix died. Delphini was hidden within walls almost as damaging as those of her current cell, deprived of a proper childhood, deprived of an education, deprived of a family. Deprived of love.

So here she is now, eyes closed and a smile on her pretty face under the pale light of his spell. He makes it a little brighter now, and will continue to do so until this place shines as much as it should. As if there was a star inside the crammed space, light bursting out through every possible place.

The Dementors fly by the window, keeping a safe distance from the guards _Patronuses_. The happiness, small as it may be, draws them in. Rodolphus shivers whenever he enters Azkaban, his very bones remembering the years he spent here, his very soul recoiling deeper inside him. He cannot cast a _Patronus_ himself. If he ever could, the years he spent in Azkaban took that possibility from him. If he could, he would, for the smile on Delphini’s face would be brighter for it.

She has a love for magic. Never allowed a wand of her own, she is powerful enough to bend other’s to her will. She showed him her ability, several times. He learned of her self-taught ways. The Rowle witch was never remotely good to her, but there was a library for the little hidden girl to explore, and old wands about the house that she could use. The Ministry never knew of her until it was too late, so she was free to explore. He has heard her tales many times, and never tires. He feels like he is making up for his mistakes. Making up for all the things she was ever denied.

He feels like he is the father to Bella’s child. He speaks about her often too. It’s the only way Delphini has of knowing who her Mother was, what she was like, her tastes, her quirks.

But there’s another side to this girl. It’s there, on her face too. She is a lot like Bellatrix, but once she left her features show true, it was all too clear.

Lost the pale blond hair with its blue extravaganza, black curls emerged. They are not wild and kinky like Bella’s were. No, they are shiny, perfect locks that tumble down her back just so, even when matted with dirt. The wavy hair of her Father in his youth.

Lost the passion that shined through her eyes for those amazing months she was free to fly higher and higher and soar closer to the stars, the hunger her Mother shared, her dark eyes shined of plans and calculations. Even after years of being locked up in here, her mind food for the spectres, she still plans her escape. She does not tell of it, but he can see it in her. The solemnity of her Father lost in thoughts is right here, in front of him.

Lost the roundness of youth and hope, her features resemble those of his Master when he was young. Or he supposes they do, for he cannot be sure. But there are little deviations from Bella to Delphini’s face, deviations that come from Him.

Lost the mockery of Diggory, there is only Black and Riddle to this girl. He faces it every time he visits too, and that is much more painful than any horde of Dementors feeding on his mind. Because it is evidence of her diluted blood. The blood of his precious Bellatrix diluted by that of the monster their Master had become by the time he sired Delphini. The monster, Rodolphus suspects, that was always there, lurking beneath the surface of his skin, waiting for the shedding.

His Master was not his own ideal. And his daughter is not it either. He found the purest blood to which to latch his soiled one, and diluted it for his own purposes. To bring forth his Augurey, his omen bird that carried his grandeur on its wings, his oracle of an everlasting reign.

The wizarding kind has no kings and queens, how could he presume to rule a kingdom?

His omen bird flied though. Spreading her wings and reaching ever higher, until she was so close to the sun that her feathers burned. Like her Father, brought down on the verge of glory, by the very same wizard.

History repeats itself, why should his Master rise this time?

She asks him to make the cell brighter. He complies immediately, smiling in earnest. Her gaze remains on the wand in his hand. He has no idea as to why they allow him to go to her carrying a wand now. The guards used to demand he left it behind, but stopped asking about it after a while. And he never bothered telling. All he wants is to make her happy for as long as he can.

Her eyes stay on his wand, until he fears for her. Should she be mad enough to try and take it, he wouldn’t fight her, he couldn’t. She would blast the door apart and immediately she would be bathed in green light, and he with her. His mind takes a second to wonder about how bad that could be, and it instantly lashes out against itself. The voices that lingered after Azkaban scream inside his mind. He had failed her Mother, he would not see her delivered to the clutches of Death.

“Stop, Delphini. You’ll never make it out of here.”

“You did. Once.”

“I was locked back in, wasn’t I? And it was much worse the second time around,” he remembers those first days, when all he could feel was the missing and the lacking of things he had reacquired, made unfathomably more precious by once being thought lost forever, “trust me.”

“I just miss it,” she whispers, her eyes still on the wand, “I miss the feel of magic coursing through me, through a wand, out into the world.” The yearning in her eyes is almost a physical entity on itself. And it is beautiful in his eyes because it’s all Bella’s.

But Bella is suddenly gone to give way to Him once more. The yearning turned jealousy over something she cannot have.

“You cannot have a wand, you know this.” He can swear there is a spark of red in her eyes during a second.

“What can I have then? I was denied everything all my life,” she is most definitely His daughter in that moment, the anger in her is just the same, “is it that much to ask? Can I not have one single thing of mine?”

“All we have is each other,” he solemnly tells her, looking into her wide dark eyes, “I will never leave you alone, Delphini.” It’s a vow, a promise, an oath most sacred. And the hope he gives her is enough to bring Bella’s eyes back. And how they shine in splendour under his light. Because that is all she truly wants, this omen girl, this token made flesh. To have someone. Someone to call her own. She has no one to call Father, and no one to call Mother, but she has him to call Rodolphus.

For the first time in her life, she is given the luxury of a family.

There’s a bang at the door, a heavy fist pounds on it, signalling the end of their time together.  He will leave, and the light will leave with him.

 “Please don’t leave me alone,” she tells him, time and time again, whenever he has to go, “you always take too long to come back.” It breaks his heart, that plea. He always manages to stay a little longer than what he is allowed to, but he always has to go.

The pounding reverberates off the door and trough the cell once more.

In the end, he leaves her.

“Please don’t leave me alone,” her voice breaking and his heart with it, “please Rodolphus, I’ll go insane.” It’s the last thing he hears before they lock the doors again. And he damns whatever gods there may be, for Bella said the same words to him once, long ago.

He couldn’t keep her from losing her sanity in the end. He only hopes he can stop it this time.

Even if History likes to repeat itself.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't go without leaving me your thoughts  
> Creative Collection Challenge: Pairing – Delphini; Dialogue - Please don’t leave me alone  
> Jewel Challenge: Topaz Necklace: Write about the Lumos spell  
> Caffeine Awareness Challenge: Vienna Coffee - (word) Diluted  
> 365 Prompts Challenge: 87.Dialogue - "All we have is each other."


End file.
